LITTLE GRAINS OF SUGAR 6 



CHAPTER II 



LITTLE GRAINS OF SUGAR 



Sugar is hatched from germs which inhabit the sap 

 of certain plants. In the birth stage it takes the form 

 of tiny grains. I am going to tell you, quite simply 

 and briefly, the way in which the germs become solid 

 little grain-bodies, and in the course of the story 

 I shall answer many of the questions with which you 

 are now bubbling over ; sweep away, I hope, most of 

 the difficulties that are now puzzling you. 



" Why is some sugar soft like powder, some crystal- 

 lized, some in the shape of odd-looking lumps, some 

 in smooth-faced, dice-like cubes ?" 



" And why are some kinds a dark brown colour, 

 others of a pale yellow or golden hue, and others quite 

 white ?" 



You see, I can quite appreciate and sympathize 

 with your present bewilderment ; not very long ago 

 I was feeling in a similar state of chaotic curiosity. 

 But if, in a few minutes' space, I am so to simplify 

 the process of sugar-production that you are full}^ 

 prepared to enjoy the scenes and scenery of Sugar 

 Land by the time you get amongst them, I must ask 

 you to come to my help. I want you to forget all the 

 questions that are surging in your brain, to make your 

 minds a blank. Good ! Now listen to me atten- 

 tively, with wide-awake interest, and I promise not 

 to tax your patience one whit more than is necessary. 



The chief sources of the world's sugar supply are 

 the sugar-cane and the sugar-beet, whose juice is 

 abundantly rich in sugar-germs. These two plant 



